


Exclusive

by bitboozy



Category: Broadchurch
Genre: F/M, First Kiss, First Time, Post-Series, Romance, jealous!alec
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-22
Updated: 2019-09-07
Packaged: 2020-09-23 18:54:22
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 19,746
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20345026
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bitboozy/pseuds/bitboozy
Summary: After the Trish Winterman case is closed, Ellie meets a man new to Broadchurch, and Alec can't cope.





	1. Chapter 1

Alec was there when it happened.

He wishes to god he hadn’t been.

From his office window, he saw the man in the tailored suit approach her desk, shake her hand, and smile at her. And he saw her smile back. He saw the _way_ he smiled at her. And the way she smiled back.

Leo Marsan, his name was. Is.

A solicitor from Norfolk who somehow found his way to Broadchurch to prosecute a woman they themselves had arrested and charged for the accidental murder of her husband.

Leo was what he’d heard women in town refer to as a “silver fox.” Probably not much older than Alec himself was, but every inch the suave gentleman that Alec was _not_.

  
For the two weeks that the case was being tried in Wessex crown court, Leo Marsan stayed at the Trader’s of all places. He came by every day with a cup of coffee for Ellie for in the morning. Alec thought he must have been a right idiot to compromise himself by developing a relationship with one of the arresting detectives, but he was smart enough to maintain _just _enough boundaries to keep things merely friendly and professional.

But there was nothing professional about the way Ellie looked at him when she thought no one was watching. She grinned at him. Laughed at his terrible jokes. (Alec thought they were terrible, anyway.) Lightly touched his shoulder when they spoke. 

The day the trial’s verdict is rendered (guilty, thank you very much), Alec watches Leo Marsan approach Ellie in the crown court lobby from only a few feet away.

“How about I take you out to celebrate?” He suggests.

Ellie blushes. It makes Alec’s blood boil.

“All right, yeah.”

She turns her head, no doubt looking around for Alec. She waves him over when she spots him, and he reluctantly obeys, hands shoved in his pockets.

“You can drive back without me, yeah?” She confirms with him. “Leo and I are going to grab a bite to celebrate.”

Alec’s response is a raised eyebrow. Ellie looks back at Leo, smiling. “Great, let’s go.”

And they _do_.

The _gall_.

*

Ellie cannot stop thinking about Leo Marsan’s face, and she won’t pretend otherwise. She also can’t stop thinking about when he takes his jacket off, when he smiles at her, and when he touches her hand. His attention on her drives her mad in the most glorious way.

When he takes her to out after the verdict comes through, his focus is only on her. He asks her about her life (oof), her hobbies (she has none), her favorite things (chips?). Afterward, he drives her back to Broadchurch to CID, where she has left her car. He reaches for her hand as they walk to it and she can see on his face that he has no fear of anyone seeing them. He still doesn’t quite understand how gossip works in Broadchurch, and but she suspects even if he did, he would still have no fear.

When they reach her car, he does not let go of her hand right away. “I’m glad all this nonsense is over,” he confesses. “I’ve been dying to kiss you for weeks.”

Ellie’s eyes widen. The art of dating is still a mystery to her and though it was certainly evident that he’s had _some _kind of interest in her, hearing this confession put to words is quite stunning.

“You haven’t,” she demurs, fully aware she’s blushing.

He is unperturbed. “Right, then, I’ll prove it to you.”

He lets go of her hand and takes her face in his hands as he leans down and presses his lips to hers. Her eyes flutter closed and he takes this as permission to part her lips with his tongue, pulling her closer. She feels like she’s melting into the pavement and will be fully liquified at any moment.

Then she hears someone nearby clear their throat. And she’d recognize that sound anywhere.

She pulls back and turns her head, and there’s Alec Hardy in his overcoat, brooding about fifteen feet away.

“Best be gettin’ on, Miller,” he calls out, chastising her. “We’ve an early start in the morning." 

Then he turns and walks away.

When she looks back up at Leo, he’s laughing. Soon she’s laughing too. 

“I’m so sorry,” she says, shaking her head. “He’s a grumpy old knob, that one is.”

“Oh, I know it,” Leo agrees. He runs his hands up and down her arms, then leans in to kiss her again.

“He’s right, though,” Ellie notes reluctantly, pulling back from the kiss. “I should be off. Kids and all.”

“Can I see you for lunch tomorrow?” He asks, squeezing her hand.

“You’ll be leaving town now, won’t you?” Her eyes widen with surprise.

“Might be persuaded to stick around for a bit.” His eyes twinkle as he smiles. He is impossibly charming that way.

“Fine, then,” she agrees. “Lunch tomorrow.”

He gives her another quick peck, then opens her car door for her. He watches her drive away.

*

Alec has been pacing his house for an hour now, to Daisy’s amusement. She wants to ask, but the look on his face tells her no good can come from it. 

Around 9pm, he picks up his mobile and sends a text: **Not a good idea. **

Within thirty seconds, her reply: **Not a good idea for who? **

He frowns. **Whom.**

**Sod off.**

Two seconds later: **Sir.**

And that’s the end of it.

*

The next morning, Ellie waltzes into CID looking like a million bucks. She’s wearing makeup, a nice blouse, even a skirt, and he can tell she’s actually taken the time to blow dry her hair. Alec deduces quite quickly that this means she’ll be meeting _him _for lunch, so at noon on the dot he decides to wait outside for the man.

Leo Marsan arrives dressed more casually than Alec’s ever seen him. Jeans and a jumper. And sod it all, he looks fit.

“DI Hardy,” the slightly older gentleman greets him, calmly. He holds out his hand and Alec reluctantly shakes it.

“You’re takin’ her to lunch,” Alec announces.

“How’d you guess.”

“She’s wearin’ lipstick.”

Leo grins. Alec frowns.

“How long you in town for?”

“Long as she’ll have me, I s’pose.”

Alec shakes his head. “Wrong answer. She’s been abandoned before.” He immediately regrets his choice of words.

Leo raises an eyebrow, accepting the challenge. “By you, as I understand it.”

“By – “ Alec puts his hands on his hips. “No, not by – I mean, I did leave for a bit, but I came back, and anyway I’m not her – “

“Her what?”

“Her…anythin’.” Alec feels a great loss of something when he admits it out loud.

Leo, as ever, is unbothered. “Ellie is very much her own woman,” he says, and Alec wants to punch him right between the eyes. How dare he even hazard to guess what kind of woman Ellie is after only two bloody weeks. “And I imagine you’re down here trying to convince me to stop seeing her because you couldn’t convince _her _to stop seeing _me_. Am I on the right track?”

Ellie emerges from inside the building then, meeting them by the concrete steps.

“What’s all this now?”

Leo is smiling, and Alec is looking at her helplessly. He says nothing.

“Shall we?” Leo asks.

“Give me just a minute, yeah?” Ellie says to him.

Leo nods and walks away a distance.

Ellie turns to Alec, hands on her hips. “What is it you think you’re doing right now? Honestly. In your head, how does this go?”

Alec looks down at his feet and mumbles, “Don’t like him.”

She seems remains steadfast. “Well you don’t have to, it’s not you he’s after.” 

He looks up then, but his expression is still sheepish. “You really want someone to be _after _you?”

“So what if I do,” she retorts. “I deserve to be courted. I deserve to be _wooed _if some bloke sees fit to woo me. If a kind, smart, attractive man wants to take me out to lunch, wants to kiss me outside my car and hold my hand, what reason have I to stop him?”

Alec opens his mouth to reply, but falters. 

“’s what I thought.” She turns away. “See you after lunch.”

He watches her go.

*

She doesn’t speak to him for the rest of the day. She’s not rude, but she goes out of her way not to interact.

At 6pm, he appears at her desk. “Let’s go to the pub.”

She blinks back at him, waiting for an explanation.

He grimaces. “Ach, come on, Miller, don’t make me beg.”

She smiles, and it warms him a little. “Quite like you to beg actually.” She leans back in her chair, waiting expectantly.

He sighs. “Just let me buy you a pint, will you? _We _deserve to celebrate yesterday’s verdict as well.”

She thinks about it, then nods. “All right then.”

At the pub, they sit at the bar and both end up ordering a Jameson on the rocks instead of a pint. They both need it. He sips his gingerly, occasionally glancing over at her as surreptitiously as possible.

But he’s not especially subtle. “What,” Ellie demands, without turning to look at him.

He shrugs, and throws the rest of his whiskey back before ordering another. She raises an eyebrow, thoroughly impressed.

“Easy now,” she says, though she’s smiling. “You’re a man of questionable health.”

He ignores her, focusing on the task that he has decided is at hand. “So you like this bloke, this Marsan fellow.”

She makes an inscrutable face and takes a sip. “Yeah.”

“Like his whole…debonaire thing?”

Ellie smiles into her glass, hoping he can’t see it. “Is that what you call it?”

“What would you call it?” 

She puts the glass down and looks at him. “He’s a good man. He’s intelligent and witty and…calm. Nothing seems to vex him. Makes him quite lovely to be around,” she explains, before adding, “A nice change.”

He frowns. “What’s that mean?”

“Dunno.” She shrugs. “Don’t meet a lot of men like him around here.”

He tries very hard to keep himself from rolling his eyes as he looks away, annoyed. “Didn’t think that was your type.”

She raises an eyebrow. “And just what did you think was my type?” Then she turns away, thinking of Joe. “Don’t answer that.”

They both drink.

“You gonna keep seein’ him?” Alec asks finally.

“Reckon so.”

“But you’re not…” He swirls around the liquid in his glass, trying not to look at her. “Exclusive or some such. Are you?”

She looks at him with surprise, jaw dropped a tiny bit. “No.”

“So you might, um.” He takes a sip. “Allow for some competition.”

It’s all she can do after the last few minutes not to fall right off her chair in response to everything he says. She tries to collect herself. “Who d’you have in mind?" 

He finishes what’s left in his glass, then stands up, pulls some cash out of his wallet, and leaves it on the bar.

“Me.”

***


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OKAY FINE, you've all got me, we'll have more than two chapters.
> 
> Thanks for reading and commenting! I can't believe how many of you are actually into this! I wasn't really feeling it at first, but you've all motivated me, so thanks. 
> 
> (Or not thanks...I'm supposed to be focusing on the play I'm currently workshopping! Oops.)

Ellie Miller is up all night staring at the ceiling. She can hardly believe the events of the last few days. Leo kissed her, and Hardy has put his hat in the ring. A ring that didn’t exist at all just a few short days earlier. She’s a single mother rapidly approaching middle age and suddenly she has two attractive men vying for her affections. And after everything she’s been through of late, she certainly never expected to be in a position like this again. 

When she arrives at work the next morning, there is a vase of white roses on her desk. A bit giddy, she checks the card. They’re from Leo. She turns her head to see Alec standing in the doorway of his office, watching her. He frowns and goes back inside.

“Looks like you’ve got yourself a not-so-secret admirer, El,” Dirty Brian says as he passes her. She makes a face at him.

She sits down at her desk and her phone rings immediately.

“Miller,” she answers it.

“_Lilies _are your favorite flower.” It’s Alec. “Not roses.”

She bites her lip to keep herself from smiling too broadly. “Doesn’t make them any less beautiful, or appreciated.”

Shortly after, she leaves the station on her own to do a follow up on a few easy leads for their latest case. When she returns, she finds a scotch egg on her desk. No card.

Leo takes her to lunch at the Trader’s. He tells her amusing stories of his experiences abroad and compliments her eyes. After lunch, she and Alec fill out paperwork in his office. She sits on his couch, he’s behind his desk. He keeps looking at her over the rims of his glasses and she can tell he’s working up to something, so she doesn’t call him out on it.

Finally, he says, “That’s a nice, um, top you’re wearing.”

“…Thanks very much.”

Towards the end of the day, he takes advantage of the moment when she leaves her desk to go to the loo. When she comes back, she finds a KitKat on her desk, and a post-it note. _Meet me at the bench_. She looks over at his office and sees it’s dark, door closed, locked up.

A little thrill runs down her spine as she shuts down her computer and gathers her things. She finds him at their bench by the pier, hands in his lap, waiting. She sits down beside him without a word, unwraps the KitKat, breaks it in half and hands one to him. He looks at her with his nose scrunched up.

“Take it,” she insists, already exasperated. “Chocolate makes everything easier, I promise.”

He sighs and takes it. They both take a bite at the same time, and sit in silence for a few minutes.

“So.” She _really _doesn’t want to have to do all the work here, since he’s supposed to be wooing _her_, but he seems so helpless and nervous that she finds it just a little bit endearing.

“So,” he says, with a nod.

“How long’ve you…” She’s not sure how to broach the subject either, to be honest.

He knows the end of the question even if she can’t say it. But he doesn’t look at her. “…Long time.”

She turns her head in surprise and stares at him until he finally does look at her. “Yeah?”

He shrugs. “Yeah.”

Ellie is quite flummoxed indeed. “I didn’t know." 

This seems to make him just a little bit sad. “’m sorry,” he says, genuinely. “You should have.”

“What – “

“You should have known, you should have been able to tell,” he explains, looking away from her again. “That’s my fault, isn’t it.”

Her mobile rings. She fishes it out of her pocket, just to make sure it isn’t a kid-related call. “Oh. Leo.” She starts to put it away. 

“Go on, then,” Alec says, a bit crossly. She frowns at him. “Go on if you want to.”

Purely to spite him, she answers the call. “Hi there. Oh, lovely, thanks. Not doing much of anything at the moment, no.” Alec folds his arms across his chest and scoffs too loudly. “Right.” She giggles at something. “You wouldn’t.” She giggles again, then steals at glance at him. He’s just about ready to get up and walk away. “Have to see about a few things, give you a ring later, eh? Yeah. All right.” She hangs up.

He gets up, and she thinks he’s going to leave, but then he says, “Fancy a walk down the pier.” It’s not quite a question the way he poses it. She stands, and they walk side by side.

“This your idea of a date?” She asks, finally. It’s not said unkindly, but it is a bit pointed.

“A _date_.” He scoffs.

“Thought that was what you were doing.” She almost stops walking, but decides not to let him rile her. “Wooing me.”

“Don’t like that word,” he replies. “And neither do you, I can tell, despite the fact you keep usin’ it.”

“I like what it _means_,” she counters. 

“What we have already exists,” he explains, shoving his hands into his pockets. “Don’t need to try to…create something between us, to build some kind of illusion, or _romanticize_…” He pauses. “We’ve already got something.”

They reach the end of the pier, and she finally turns to look at him curiously. “Meaning what exactly?”

“What I said.” He shrugs, but his gaze is on her, finally. 

“What is it you think we have?”

He looks away again, out at the ocean. “Can’t describe it. Doesn’t work that way.”

She raises an eyebrow. “You mean _you _don’t work that way." 

He sighs. “You’re bein’ deliberately obstinate, Miller.”

“Have you _met _me?”

He almost smiles at that, but maintains his surly demeanor and keeps his gaze on the ocean. “I’ll court you, if that’s what you want. I can…send you flowers and take you out to posh restaurants,” he says. “But something tells me you don’t _actually _want that.”

She turns away and folds her arms across her chest. “So bloody clever all of a sudden, aren’t you? Got it all figured out, have you? Well, I’ve have you know that I contain _multitudes_, Alec Hardy, and you don’t know everything about me.” 

“Miller, I – “

She turns back on him. “You’ve fancied me for god knows how long, apparently, and you’ve been perfectly content to let me just go on thinking that – that – you’ve not given me one good reason to _think_\--- and then suddenly another bloke comes along and you…” She groans. “It’s just rude. You know that? It’s just bloody _rude_.”

She starts to walk away in a huff.

“Ellie.”

That stops her. But she doesn’t turn around.

“What is it you _do _want, then?”

She turns around slowly, and meets his eye. “I want someone who’s not afraid.”

*


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Been loving all your brilliant comments!

After storming away from Alec Hardy on the pier, Ellie Miller heads straight to the pub.

She sits at the bar and orders a shot of Jameson, the way she and Alec had done just one night earlier.

“Bloody twat,” she mutters to herself, throwing back the shot in one go.

She orders another.

“Thinks he knows me.” She throws that one back too.

Then orders another.

“Hasn’t got a clue.” Third one down.

Sam the bartender, whom she has known most of her life, is hesitant to pour her another one. “All right, El?”

“’m not bloody all right, do I look bloody all right?" 

“…Not sure how to answer that, to be honest.”

She looks at him with desperation in her eyes, leaning forward. “One more and I’ll not bother you anymore. I swear it.”

He sighs, nods, and pours her one last shot. Then he slides a glass of water over to her. This time she stares at the shot glass for a few minutes without making a move. 

“I deserve better,” she murmurs finally, then throws it back.

She leaves some cash on the bar, then stumbles out the door.

A few minutes later, she stumbles into the Trader’s Hotel. She shows up at Leo’s door unannounced, and the surprise on his face is plain when he opens it to find her standing there.

“Ellie!”

She tries very hard not to appear drunk standing in the doorway. “Hope I’m not disturbing you.”

He chuckles. “God, no, not at all. Just…” He gestures inside to his room. “A bit of telly and flavorless room service. Like to come inside?”

“Thanks.”

He steps aside so she can enter, and he closes the door behind her. “Get you a drink?” 

She _badly _wants to say yes, but if she’s going to accomplish what she came here for, she needs to _not _be falling over. “No, ta.” 

“Wasn’t expecting to see you tonight.”

She smiles a bit sheepishly. “The evening took a bit of an unexpected turn.” She takes a step toward him. “Thought maybe it might take another.” 

With that, she throws her arms around his neck and kisses him. He stumbles backward, but returns the kiss, arms slipping around her waist. “_Oh_,” he says, when they finally come up for air. “Right, then.”

She kisses him again, and he pulls back just a bit. “Had a few, haven’t you?” He can taste it on her. 

Ellie shrugs, uninterested in conversation. She pulls his head back down to hers and kisses him again. He’s hesitant, she can tell, and it’s her own fault. He’s too nice a man to take advantage of her in an inebriated state, even if she’s the one pursuing it. But she keeps at it, hoping that she can get him far gone enough that he won’t be able to refuse her.

“Ellie,” he breathes against her lips, trying to get her attention.

“Mm.”

“Ellie.”

“Stop talking.”

She finds his hand and places it on her breast. He doesn’t remove it, but he doesn’t do anything more. He groans. “Ellie, you’re making this very difficult.”

“I would argue _you’re _making _this _very difficult.” She pushes him against the wall. It’s quite nice being the aggressor even if she’s already a bit dizzy. His thumb strokes her nipple through the fabric of her shirt and she thinks maybe she’s getting somewhere. But then he pulls his hand away suddenly. 

“This is not how I want this to happen.”

She sighs, pulling back to look at him reluctantly. “How on earth do you want this to happen, then? Do you not want me?”

“Do I not – “ His eyes widen and he shakes his head. “_Of course _I want you. Be a fool not to want you.”

She smiles. “And you’re not a fool, are you…”

“I’d just like you to, you know…have your wits about you when we do this,” he explains. “And we _will _do this.”

She takes a few steps back, nodding. “You’re right.” 

He straightens himself out a bit. “I’ll make you a coffee and drive you home,” he offers, then looks at the clock. “Bet you can still catch Fred before bedtime.”

She looks at the clock too, surprised. It’s barely 7:30. She feels like she’s lived a hundred lives in the last ninety minutes. “Right, yes, thanks.” She sits down on the edge of the bed. “Sorry.”

“No need,” he replies, going to make the coffee. “Though I do wonder how it is you came to be so half in the bag before eight o’clock.” 

Ellie avoids his gaze. “Well…”

*

She does make it home in time to see Fred off to bed and check Tom’s schoolwork. Not that she has any idea how today’s maths works even when she’s sober. She sends her Dad off to his new apartment, and makes herself some pasta. It’s about all she can handle at any given time.

After she gets some food in her, she heads up to her bedroom and immediately takes a few ibuprophen and downs two entire glasses of water in anticipation of the headache she’s likely to have any minute now. She flops down on the bed and finally checks her mobile and finds two texts, one from Leo, and one from Alec. It takes her too long to decide which one to read first, but ultimately opts for Leo, so she can save Alec’s. Though she’ll never admit it.

Leo: **Hope you weren’t too put off. I will in fact be up all night thinking of you…**

She blushes reading it, both from flattery and embarrassment.

Alec: **Saw you disappear into the pub. Just seeing you made it home. **

_Stupid, thoughtful sod_, she thinks to herself. She has half a mind not to respond at all and let him wonder. But she can’t.

**Home.**

She’s thinking of just how cheeky she ought to be in her response to Leo, when another text from Alec comes in.

**I think of you all the time just so you know. When you’re not around. **

_Oh, bollocks_, she thinks. She throws her mobile down and gets up to wash her face. Cold water ought to do the trick. When she picks up her mobile again, she has yet another text from him.

**When you ARE around even. **

She wants to throw the bloody thing against the wall. He shouldn’t be allowed to do this to her via text, not if he can’t say it to her in person. It feels like cheating. But then she realizes her entire body is lit up.

She takes a breath, and texts back. **What is it you think of exactly? **

Oof. She’s going to regret that text in the morning.

The reply comes back fairly swiftly, considering how anxious she must have made him.

**Take a guess.**

Oh, no. No no no. They are dangerously close to sexting right now and she cannot be expected to handle that. She switches her mobile off, and hops into the shower.

The next morning she finds him waiting for her outside the police station, with two to-go cups. As she approaches him, Leo approaches from the opposite direction, also carrying two to-go cups.

She’s going to be _very _caffeinated today.

*


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all the comments! I remain baffled and impressed that people are so into this!

Alec Hardy has maybe never hated anyone more than Leo Marsan in his life. 

And that’s saying something.

He’s so focused on Ellie as she walks toward him – she’s wearing a _skirt _today, and he likes very much that she has started doing that on occasion – that he doesn’t notice Leo until he’s standing right beside him. Ellie, stopping about four feet away from them, bursts into uncontrollable laughter at the sight of them. If he wasn’t so bloody annoyed, all he’d want to do is kiss her. But instead he’s got this bloody Wickham standing next to him.

(Even Alec can’t believe he’s just made a _Pride and Prejudice _reference in his own head, but here we are.)

“Hello, boys,” Ellie says with a grin, as soon as she’s managed to stop laughing.

To Alec’s surprise, _Leo _is smiling too and seems to find it just as amusing as she does.

Alec looks down at the coffee cups in his hands. “This is just, um, for Harford,” he mutters, turning to head inside.

Ellie raises an eyebrow. “For Harford.”

“Yeah. She, um, asked for – “ 

“All right, mate, reckon I should have seen this coming,” Leo interrupts him. He hands a coffee to Ellie, who takes it, and then pats him on the shoulder. “Had a feeling you had a bit of a crush on Ellie here.”

…Alec could _die_. He could absolutely _die. _

Ellie is smiling broadly, sipping her coffee in the hopes no one will see.

Alec is full on grimacing. “’s just coffee.”

“You _never _bring me coffee,” Ellie adds incredulously. “Because _you _don’t like coffee.”

“That’s not – “ Alec sputters, before deciding to take a breath and calm himself. If this insufferble bloke can be unperturbed, so bloody well can he. “Make you tea all day long at work.” Not his most convincing response.

“It’s all right, you know,” Leo says, grinning at Ellie before glancing back at Alec. It looks like they’re in on something, though he knows logically that’s not true. “Perfectly reasonable. I’d not be able to _think _straight working alongside Ellie all day.” 

Alec notes Ellie’s blush and feels instant fury that he himself is not the one who caused it. He looks at his shoes. “Think much better with her in the room, as it happens.”

When he looks up, Ellie is smiling at him, in a way that seems _very _much for him, as if Leo is not there at all. It almost makes him smile back.

“Right, so.” Leo seems to notice this, to Alec’s relief. “Now that everything’s out in the open – “

“Now that –_what’s _out in the open.” Alec is frowning again. 

“How we both feel about Ellie,” he says, matter-of-factly, clearly surprised he _had _to.

“Oh. Um.” Ellie speaks up now. If you can call that speaking up. “We don’t need to – it’s not…” She looks at Alec, and he could swear there’s something apologetic in her eyes. “Hardy, you don’t need to – “

Alec clears his throat. “Yeah, that’s right.” He sees Ellie’s eyes widen.

Leo looks him in the eye. “You fancy her then.”

Ellie is looking at him in that way she has – totally open, earnest, and a bit petrified. Somehow, this gives Alec courage. “That doesn’t even begin to cover it,” he says, fortified, and managing to sound as casual and unperturbed as Leo does.

“Well, then,” Leo says, looking somewhat impressed, before turning to Ellie. 

Ellie, who is glowing in a way he’s never quite seen before. Ellie, whom he now realizes _absolutely _deserves to be fought for.

Leo continues. “I s’pose we ought not to make a _reality show _out of it, but I won’t presume to tell Ellie she has to choose. Not yet anyway.” 

“Nor I,” Alec agrees.

Ellie looks back and forth between them, and he can see plainly how uncertain she feels about the whole affair. She frowns. “I know it _sounds _like you’re trying to respect my autonomy and honor my freedom to choose, but you actually sound quite ridiculous, you know,” she says. “You may as well have just said ‘may be the best man win.’”

Alec and Leo both backpeddle at the exact same time, in the exact same way. “No no, that’s not what – no – “

Ellie holds a hand up to quiet them. “It’s not a competition, and I’m not certain how to make that plain, and how to…see you both in the meantime. But I guess the best thing to do is just…keep exploring what works and what doesn’t, and…see how we all feel.” She’s clearly still thinking it through herself. “For all we know you’ll both end up deciding you don’t want me after all.” They protest, but she continues. “I want to be clear here. You’re not vying for my affection, there are no matches won or lost, and if either of one of you starts to feel like things aren’t working you should feel free to…you know, break things off. There’s no prize at the end.”

Both men are silent, thinking this through.

“Deal?” She asks finally.

Both men grumble and shove their hands into their respective pockets. 

“I’ll take that as a yes.”

*

Alec has decided to blame himself for this mess. If he’d just come forward to Ellie sooner and made his feelings known, things might have been settled before Leo even showed up in Broadchurch. Provided she feels the same way about him. Which he still isn’t sure about.

Granted, she must have _some _interest if she hasn’t spurned him outright, but it’s not as if she’s declared her feelings to him either. And if she _had _those feelings, would she not have broken things off with Leo already?

He does, however, recognize that he has an advantage. (Yes, yes, he knows it’s not a game, but…) They work together. He sees her all day every day. Almost every day.

That very afternoon they’re on a stakeout in Exmouth. Ellie’s car is parked a few hundred yards down from the house of a potential suspect, and they sit side by side keeping watch, waiting for him to leave them a clue of some sort. They’ve not spoken about anything unrelated to work since the morning, and he suspects she’s been as grateful for that as he is.

But now the quiet in the car is getting to be a bit too much for both of them. Normally she’d be chattering away to him about something or other, goading him on just for the fun of it. Silence is most definitively _not _their thing.

“Hardy.” She breaks the silence. 

“Hm.” He doesn’t look at her yet.

“Is this too weird?”

She’s looking at him, but he keeps looking out the window. “What?”

“Working together. Now that there’s…you know, this…”

_Now _he looks at her, as earnestly as anyone’s ever looked at anyone else. “No.”

“You’re sure.” _She _doesn’t look so sure.

“Yes,” he says unequiovcally. “I won’t hear of anything else.”

She now turns to look out her window. He keeps looking at her. “Miller. Whatever happens…we’re partners. I’ll not consent to work alongside anyone else. For any reason.”

When her eyes meet his, she’s almost smiling. “So if things go south…”

He looks back out his window. “They won’t.”

“But – “

“They won’t.”

“Awfully smug,” she comments, but she’s smiling to herself.

“Not smug,” he counters. “Certain.”

“_Hardy_.” The tone of her voice is the equivalent of whacking his arm.

He meets her gaze again. “Dunno how long it will take, ages maybe, but it’ll happen.” He is careful to ensure that no part of what he tells her seems hesitant. He can’t be hesitant with her anymore, that’s clear.

“Right.” She blinks, probably blinking back tears if he knows her (and he does), and turns her gaze straight ahead.

After a moment, he reaches for her hand. He can _feel _her sharp intake of breath. For some reason, maybe because this kind of physical contact is so new for them, he half expects her to pull her hand away. But she doesn’t.

He squeezes her hand, then goes so far as to interlock their fingers. Again, she doesn’t pull away, or even flinch. 

“Like I said, Miller,” he says, working to mask the emotion that threatens to reveal itself in his voice. “_Certain_.”

They stay like that, holding hands and staring out opposite windows, for quite some time. 

When it starts to get dark, she pulls her hand away and turns the key in the ignition.

“Right, then,” she says, and it’s the first thing either of them has said in nearly thirty minutes. “No luck here. Best be getting on.”

She pulls the car out onto the road.

“Miller.” He’s looking at her. She’s trying very hard to keep her eyes on the road. “Ellie,” he amends.

She throws a quick glance his way before returning her eyes ahead of her.

“Will you let me cook for you tonight?”

Startled, she glances at him again, as if she needs to see the look on his face to know his question is in earnest. It is.

“I, um.” She swallows. “S’posed to have a drink with Leo.”

He nods, and turns away. She’s desperate to see the look in his eyes, so she says, “I’ll ask for a raincheck.”

He does look at her. “From me?" 

“From him.”

His grin is so broad that she hardly recognizes him for a second. “This doesn’t mean you’re the winner,” she notes carefully.

“Thought there _were _no winners.” He smirks.

“Quite right,” she says. “But. You know.”

“I’ll bear that in mind.”

He looks out the window again, but he can’t stop smiling. It’s an odd feeling, but it’s a relief.

Back at the station, she drops him off next his own car.

He turns to her. “Round half seven?”

“Eight’s better,” she replies. “Like to put Fred down first.”

“Eight then.”

Ellie chews on the inside of her cheek. “Should I…”

“What?”

“Bring wine? Change? …Something?”

He gives her a reassuring smile, something she hasn’t seen in ages. “Anything you like.”

She nods, thoughtfully. “…Daisy be there?”

He opens the car door, and throws one glance back to her. “Not if I can help it.”

***


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's funny what staying in a beautiful ranch house at the top of a mountain in Colorado can do for your writing productivity. Though I don't think the theatre that put me up here intended for me to be productive at writing FANFIC. Why is it so much easier to write the things you're not on deadline for???
> 
> Also, your comments are DEFINITELY making me write faster. So thank you. (Thank you from me only, not from the theatre, mind you.)
> 
> Must also attend to my other neglected Alec/Ellie series now too...!
> 
> :)

Despite her better judgment, Ellie stops at her sister’s place after work.

“Need to borrow a top or something,” is all she tells her.

Lucy takes her upstairs to her bedroom closet and they sift through Lucy’s truly inordinate amount of clothing.

“Where’s Leo takin’ you?”

Ellie freezes. “He’s, um.” She shifts a bit. “Cooking for me.”

Lucy stares at her. “At the Trader’s?”

“Um.” She pulls a top out of the closet. “How ‘bout this one?”

“_Ellie_.” Lucy takes the top out of her hand.

“He’s taking me to that Italian place just up the coast,” Ellie amends.

Lucy is still just staring at her incredulously. “You just said he was cooking for you. Does he _work _at the Italian restaurant now?” 

Ellie frowns back at her. “Just help me pick out a top, will you?”

Lucy folds her arms across her chest. “How’m I s’posed to do _that _if I don’t know what kind of date you’re goin’ on.”

“It’s just. It’s not.” Ellie groans and flops down on the bed. “Not that big a deal.” 

Lucy throws a top at her unceremoniously. “Wear your own bloody top then.”

“I’ll just take this one.” Ellie holds it up against her body.

“You’ll bloody well not.” Lucy snatches it away from her again. “You’ll stretch out the neckline.”

Ellie narrows her eyes at her sister. This is a familiar tiff. One they’ve been having since they were teenagers. “Oh sod off.”

“Borrow something looser.”

“I’ll just borrow you then.”

Lucy’s mouth opens, insulted. Ellie makes a face at her. After a brief détente, Ellie says, “I’m taking the silk one with the v-neck.”

“Swear to god if you stretch out my silk shirt with your massive sodding tits, I’ll – “

“You’ll _what_. Stretch out my nice jeans with your massive sodding arse?”

They glare at each other until they both burst out laughing. “Oh take the bloody thing,” Lucy says.

“Ta.”

“Not sure how Leo’s going to manage to cook you dinner at his Italian restaurant up the coast if he’s staring at your tits all night, though.” Lucy wiggles her eyebrows at her sister. “That’s just mean, El.”

Ellie rolls her eyes, and walks out the door.

*

Ellie then rushes home to relieve her father, and blames Lucy for how late she is. Her father is more than willing to believe that, knowing his older daughter. She scoops Fred up, gives him a bath, and puts him to bed. Tom more or less ignores her in favor of his headphones and for once she thanks god for the massive age difference between her two sons. At least while Tom’s busy being a teenager and ignoring her, Fred is still excited to see her when she comes home and will still let her snuggle him.

Once Fred’s asleep, she disppears into her bedroom to change clothes and do her makeup. There’s a part of her that just wants to show up at Hardy’s door looking exactly as she did when they parted, to play it cool like she doesn’t care. But she’s never been very good at playing it cool.

She changes into Lucy’s mauve-colored silk top and a knee-length black skirt that is just tight enough to make her feel effortlessly sexy. She fixes her hair, pinning some of the wild strands back, and does her makeup a bit more than she normally would. By the time her last minute babysitter, Chloe Latimer, shows up at her door she’s feeling quite pleased with herself. 

“Out with Leo again tonight?” Chloe asks with a cheeky grin. 

“…Yep. That’s it.” She grabs her purse and gives Chloe a kiss on the cheek. “Thanks, love. Back later.”

“Late as you like!” Chloe calls after her, as she disappears out the door. “Don’t rush home on my account!” Chloe is under strict instructions from her mother to assist in Ellie Miller getting laid in any way she possibly can.

Daisy answers the door at the Hardy house with a massive smile, and Ellie briefly wonders if Chloe and Daisy are in on some sort of secret mission together.

“Hi, Ellie!” Daisy is far too enthusiastic and Ellie has no idea how to react. “Come in, come in, ooh that’s a nice top, Dad’s just in the kitchen.”

Ellie enters the house as Daisy grabs a jacket and gathers her things. “I’m just off. Plans with a mate tonight.” Ellie half-wonders if Daisy is heading to _her _house to keep Chloe company while babysitting. “May I?” 

It’s unclear to what Daisy is referring until she reaches out to adjust Ellie’s top, tugging it down a bit to make it more revealing. Ellie is blinking at her, befuddled.

“There we are,” Daisy says, pleased with herself. Ellie opens her mouth and closes it in quick succession, unsure how to respond. But Daisy is grinning. “No chance you’ll get any work done tonight, then.”

“Daisy, what on earth – “ 

“Ellie. Please. For me.” Daisy grabs onto Ellie’s arms. “You’ve no idea how badly my dad needs to get shagged.”

Her eyes widen and her cheeks go hot. “Love, that is _not_– “

“Don’t say not. Just consider it, will you?”

Ellie would laugh at the teenager’s innocence and desperation if she wasn’t so flummoxed by the entire situation.

“And don’t pretend you’re surprised,” Daisy adds. “You and I are the two people who spend the most time with him, you _must _know how badly he needs it and how badly he needs it to be _you_.”

Ellie stands up straight, one hand on her hip. “No idea what you’re on about.”

Daisy sighs heavily.

“Besides,” Ellie continues. “Not going to shag him just ‘cause he needs a good shagging. What about what _I _need?”

Daisy raises both eyebrows and tries not to laugh. “You’re not going to stand here in that top with that lipstick on and try to tell me _you _don’t need to get shagged just as badly, are you?”

Ellie frowns. She frowns so hard she probably looks just like _him_.

“Just here for a hot meal,” she says finally, refusing to engage.

“Whatever you say.” Daisy heads for the door.

“Daisy.” Ellie stops her. “What d’you mean by ‘he needs it to be you’?”

“What d’you mean what do I mean?” It’s Daisy who’s frowning now. “Who else would it be?”

Ellie shrugs. “Well, any number of – “

“Ellie.” Daisy leans forward a bit conspiratorally. “You know Dad’s been in love with you since, like, time began, right?”

“_No_,” Ellie says too quickly. “Mad, you are.”

“’m not the mad one!” Daisy laughs. “Have fun!”

And with that, she disappears out the front door, leaving Ellie to fend for herself. She takes a moment to collect herself then steps further into the house, following a delicious smell into the kitchen. There she finds Alec Hardy, juggling a number of pans on the stove, a dish towel thrown over his shoulder and a wooden spoon in his hand.

It’s possible she’s never seen anything so sexy in her entire life.

He has his back to her and she would probably be content to just stand in the doorway and watch him for a good long time. But he must sense her presence because he whirls around quite swiftly. 

“Oh. You’re – how did – hi.” 

Ellie bites her bottom lip to keep from smiling too hard. “Daisy let me in. Then made herself quite scarce.”

She realizes he’s barely heard her. His eyes are busy scanning up and down her body in a way that would make her uncomfortable if it was anyone but him. Suddenly she feels like every inch of her skin is on fire.

“Hardy.” She takes a single step toward him and tries to get his attention.

“Yes. Yeah. Right. Hi.”

“You said that already.”

He leans back on the counter as if he needs to be steadied and Ellie is quite amused by how overwhelmed he seems to be by her.

“Did I? Sorry.” He tries to shake out of it and wipes his hands absently on the dish towel. “You changed.”

She smiles sheepishly. “But I forgot the wine.”

“Bar’s plenty stocked up,” he replies, still unable to keep his eyes off her.

She nods. “Fix us a couple drinks, then, shall I?”

Again, he seems to barely hear her, replying on automatic. “You know where everything is.”

And she _does_. It’s a bit amazing. She’s never really stopped to think how much time they actually do spend together, and not just at the office. She slips into the next room and fixes them both a couple of scotches. When she re-enters the kitchen, he seems to be staring into space, holding a zucchini.

“Scotch all right?”

He snaps back to it and takes the glass she hands him. They clink their glasses togethers. “Cheers,” she says.

“Right, then, cheers.”

They each take a sip, both staring at the other over the rims of their respective glasses.

“What’ve you got cooking then?”

“Oh, um.” He looks around him, as if trying to remember. “Just an old family recipe.”

She smirks. “I swear to god, Hardy, if there’s bloody haggis involved in this meal in any way…”

“Alec will do,” he says, and just about knocks her socks off.

“…What.”

“Alec, you should…you know, you should really call me Alec. Now.” He exhales uncomfortably. “Just seems like…”

“Right then. Alec and Ellie. Alone in your kitchen. Drinks in hand.” She rolls her foot a bit nervously, a bit coyly perhaps, and he looks down and realizes for the first time she’s wearing strappy little heels. Low heels, but heels nonetheless. He swallows, and she smiles at that. “Just…very much alone. The two of them.” 

“Uh.” He clears his throat. “Ellie, um…”

“Yes?” She leans against the door frame, suddenly very much aware of the affect she’s having on him.

“Uh. How d'you feel about garlic?” 

She raises both eyebrows, knowing full well that was _not _what he’d intended to say to her.

“Not sure garlic will serve us well tonight,” she replies. “To be honest.”

He clears his throat again. “Right.” He turns and tosses the entire garlic clove into the bin without hesitation. She laughs out loud.

“Do you…” He exhales. “Uh. Can I…”

The pot behind him starts to boil over and he quickly goes to switch off the burner.

It doesn’t feel like this with Leo, she realizes quite suddenly. It doesn’t feel like this at _all_. Yes, she’s attracted to him, yes, she enjoys being around him, but…it’s _nothing_. At _all_. Like _this_.

She crosses one leg over the other where she stands, flexing one strappy-heeled foot, and takes a sip of her scotch a bit demurely. “Anything I can do to help?”

*

The leg-crossing and the strappy-heeled foot and the sipping and the…

That’s about all Alec can take. He can feel his own breathing getting heavier and more labored. He’s gripping the wooden spoon so tight it may break in half. His eyes rake over her body again, the bare legs, that top, the swell of her…. The _lipstick_.

“Ellie.” He breathes her name more than says it. He sees that she’s breathing a bit heavily too now, and his eyes follow the rise and fall of her chest with rapt attention. 

He launches himself toward her and kisses her hard, pushing her back against the door frame. She doesn’t hesitate in her reciprocation and his entire body would be awash with relief if it wasn’t already filled entirely to the brim with _desire_. It’s been _years _since he’s first wanted to kiss her and even more years since he’s kissed anyone at _all_. In this moment he cannot rightly believe he was able to keep from doing this to her for so long. It makes no mathematical sense.

She parts her lips and he takes that as an invitation to deepen the kiss. His arms go quite naturally around her waist, pulling her flush against him as his tongue begins to explore her mouth with a sort of desperation he can’t remember ever feeling before. Her hands are suddenly in his hair and a soft moan escapes from his throat and he can’t even be bothered to be embarrassed by how obviously he wants her. Then he feels a strappy-heeled foot nudge at his trouser leg begin to travel upwards, and jesus christ, he’s half-hard already.

He assumes she can feel it because suddenly she laying her palms flat on his chest and guiding him backwards, off of her, forcing their lips to separate. 

“Dinner,” she manages to say in an exhale.

“Sod dinner,” he replies without giving it even half a thought. He tries to get right back to kissing her, but her hands are firm and keep him at just the barest of distances away.

“_Dinner_,” she repeats, more firmly now. She takes a deep breath. “We need to be bloody adults and eat dinner.”

“Right.” He nods as if he agrees, though he most certainly does not.

“This is meant to be a _date_,” she reminds him. And he wants to understand but all he _really _wants to do is kiss off all the lipstick on her lips until they’re good and swollen. 

“Right,” he says instead. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to…” He manages to take a step back from her and straightens himself out a bit. “Uh. Sorry.”

Taking a step back from her is all well and good in theory, but truly it just means he can now _look _at her again as she leans against the doorway, at the deep plunge of her v-neck silk shirt, at the cleavage that threatens to stretch it out, the pink blush that’s now appeared on her chest and collarbone, and then there’s the heat he can still feel emanating from her body…

He takes another deep breath. “Right. Dinner.” He places his hands at his hips to steady himself where he stands. “But just so you know. Just so you’re aware.” His eyes meet hers. “You are unbelievably bloody gorgeous, Ellie Miller.” Her face breaks into a smile which sets him aglow. “That I _won’t _apologize for.”

She exhales as if she’s been holding her breath. Bloody hell, he’s a goner. 

“And now if you’ll forgive me I’m going to have to ask you to wait in the other room,” he adds. “Otherwise I’ll never be _able _to finish cooking you the dinner you so rightly deserve. Which we shall eat like adults.”

*


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sending this off as I'm about to embark on an absurd 18 hour travel day. Comments ease the pain! Thank you all so much for reading and being invested in this lil fic!

Ellie stands just outside the doorway to the kitchen, leaning against the wall, drinking her scotch. She listens to him cook, and smiles imagining him. Somehow being forbidden to enter the room is impossibly sexy to her.

“Smells good,” she says, volume just a little louder than normal so he can hear her.

“’Cause it _is _good,” he assures her. “Who’s with the boys tonight?”

“Chloe,” Ellie replies. “And she was about as cheeky as Daisy.”

She hears dishes clanging before he responds. “Daisy was cheeky to you?”

“Oh, blimey, yes. A little imp, that one.” 

“Hope she wasn’t rude.”

Ellie can’t even _imagine _Daisy being rude. Though she _is _a teenager. “Just doing the lord’s work.”

“What work is that?”

“Finding you a good shag.”

There’s a loud banging, and she smiles when she realizes he’s dropped something. “What’s that now?” He stammers.

“Thinks you need to get your end away,” Ellie continues. “You must be a right pain in the arse around here.” 

He doesn’t say anything. She can imagine him scrambling, literally and figuratively. 

“She was quite desperate about it. Had her hands all in my lady bits trying to make them more visible.” Ellie takes a sip of her scotch. “As if you need _incentive _to shag me.”

More clambering and clanging about.

“I think my tits look pretty good _without _her help." 

A crash.

She’s enjoying this.

“Sure I can’t help with anything?”

“Uh, no. Thanks.”

She’s grinning to herself. “I’ll just go into the next room over and let you concentrate a bit.”

“Right, yeah, great.”

She explores the house a bit, taking time to notice things she hasn’t ever had the chance to before. Little knick knacks, Daisy’s things, photographs on the wall. She’s getting a closer look at a photo of Alec and toddler Daisy when he appears in the living room.

“Ready then,” he announces. 

She follows him back into the kitchen, where he has set the table quite nicely, complete with lit candles. She nearly gasps.

“Oh, my.”

“It’s just.” He shoves a hand into his back pocket while the other one runs through his hair anxiously. “Just a bit of…you know. Ambiance.”

“Ambiance,” she repeats, impressed.

He pulls out of chair for her and she’s even _more _impressed. “Thanks much.”

She sits. The meal before her is one she most certainly does not recognize. He sits opposite her, and she finds herself wishing he would sit beside her. But they both know they’d have no chance of actually getting through the meal that way. 

“So,” Ellie says, looking at the table. “What is it exactly?” 

“Just…try it,” Alec insists. “You’ll like it.”

Ellie agrees that it’s probably best for her not to ask questions. Scottish cuisine is a mystery to her. She puts some on her plate, and is surprised by how delicious it actually is when she tries it. 

“_Oh_. Quite nice, this.” She takes another bite. “Lovely of you to cook, by the way.” 

He smirks. “Better me than you.” 

“Very funny.”

She tries to focus on her food, but then she catches him looking at her over the flame of the lit candle and she’s struck by how…beautiful he is. Her grumpy old boss. Impossibly handsome all the while. And now they’re both just _staring _at each other across the table. He clears his throat suddenly and looks away, taking a bite.

“Sorry.”

She leans in a bit. “What’re you sorry for?”

“Just, um.” He clears his throat yet again. “Much rather look at you than eat.”

Ellie thinks her entire body might be blushing, head to toe.

She looks down, a bit bashful. “Awfully sweet,” she says softly. “Didn’t know you could say things so sweet.”

Alec nods, pleased with himself. “And mean them too.”

“You’re lovely,” she tells him, leaning forward and reaching for his hand across the table.

He meets her eyes, then looks away, but his thumb is stroking her hand.

“I, um. I’m sorry if…” He trails off, but she hardly notices because the feeling of his thumb stroking her hand is making her a bit dizzy. “I didn’t mean to upset you. Last night.”

Oh god, was that only last night? She already feels as if she’s lived a hundred lives since then.

“I know,” is all she can manage to say. She pulls her hand away, before she gets too dizzy to go on. She picks at her food again, and takes a sip of her scotch for fortification. He does too. 

“Have you, um.” He stabs something on his plate. “Slept with Leo yet?”

The _yet _in that question startles her a bit and she’s not sure why. She looks across the candlelight at him. “What?”

“Uh. Sorry. I know it’s – not necessarily any of my business, but – “

“No, it isn’t.”

“And you don’t _have _to tell me, of course. But. Reckon I’d like to know.”

She frowns at him. “Would you actually though? I mean it’s not…what would it matter? _Would _it matter?" 

“Dunno.” He grimaces. “No. But.”

She looks at him for a good long time before answering. “No, I haven’t.”

The relief that washes over his entire body is so visible and palpable that she can almost feel it herself.

“Came awfully close though,” is what pops out of her mouth next, to her own chagrin.

Alec looks like he’s experiencing whiplash. “Came awfully – “

“Last night, in fact.”

He nods slowly, a realization dawning on him. “You went to the pub and then…”

“Yes. _Quite _inebriated, mind. Tried my level best to get him to shag me,” she explains, not meeting his eyes. “But he wouldn’t.”

“Ah.”

Neither of them says anything for a moment, both pushing their food around their respective plates. Then he looks up.

“I was the one who made you upset. And then you – “ 

“Had about four shots of whiskey at the bar.”

“And went to Leo.” He’s clearly thinking something through. “Any chance you – might have gone to Leo because you…wanted to go to – me?”

The accusation is shocking to her at first but then it’s like nothing has ever made more sense to her. “…It’s possible.”

He looks away before he smiles, not wanting to seem smug. Ellie takes a good long sip of her scotch. Again, they don’t speak for awhile, but there are a few times he looks like he wants to. Like he has something to say, and then decides against it. After a few instances of this, Ellie reaches for his hand across the table again.

“Alec.” 

He looks at her.

“It’s just me still, you know. Even with all this. Even though I’m candlelit and tits out, it’s still just me. Just Ellie.” He’s squeezing her hand now. “Same Ellie.”

She watches a number of different emotions fight for space on his face, his expression changing so rapidly it’s almost comical. She can see that he’s feeling so much that he truly does not know what to do with it all.

“This is what I meant before, you know,” he says finally. “Last night. When I said we already have something. It’s…you know, it’s a bit weird to be on a date with someone you already know so well. Who already knows you so well. Seems a bit like we’ve already done this part.” He looks her in the eye now. “I didn’t mean that I didn’t want to. I just meant that I feel like we already _have_.”

Ellie gets up then, pulling her hand away from his. She walks over to his chair, takes his face in her hands, and kisses him fervently. Then she turns and goes right back over to her seat again.

“Uh.”

“That’s all,” she says, all smiles.

“…Okay.”

She goes back to eating, but he’s just _staring_ at her and she can feel it. When she takes a sip from her water glass, she unintentionally catches his eye. 

“Ellie.”

She pauses, still holding the water glass to her lips. “Yes.”

“I can do this, you know,” he says, leaning forward, dark eyes burning into her. “Hope you can see that.”

She blinks. “Do what exactly?”

“Romance you.”

She had forgotten that there is an extent to which he’s been trying to impress her all night. To prove something to her. And it’s her own fault, too.

There’s so much she wants to say, but all she can manage is, “I know you can.”

Next comes yet another silence during which all he does is look at her.

“Ellie.”

She smiles, and it’s almost a laugh. “Yes.”

“Are you done with dinner because I’m done with dinner.”

“_Yes_,” she answers, a bit breathlessly.

“Oh thank christ.”

They both hop out of their chairs and fly to each other. It happens so fast it’s unclear who kisses who, but her hands are cupping his face and his fingers are in her hair and they stumble, struggling to stay upright. There’s no space or opportunity to breathe, their tongues are well-matched and their bodies seem to fit together exactly right; it’s frenzied and messy but unquestionably _right_. He starts to push her backwards without even thinking about it and they stumble toward the counter. When she runs into it, their lips part for a few seconds so they can catch their breaths, although they both suspect they should just go ahead and get used to being breathless from now on. After just barely refilling their lungs, they’re back at it again, it’s all biting and sucking and licking, total desperation. She runs her fingers through his hair like she’s always wanted to and his hands are roaming her body, unable to find a landing spot because he can’t decide which part of her he wants to touch the most.

Then one of their mobiles starts to ring and at first they’re determined to kiss through it, but goddamnit, they are both _parents _and it is a _chemical _thing that they must answer their phones at all times. They separate like it’s the most painful thing that’s ever happened to either of them, and both go off breathlessly in search of their mobiles.

It’s Ellie’s phone, but _both _of their children calling.

“Chloe,” Ellie answers, totally out of breath. “What – hang on – “

She puts the phone on speaker after Daisy pipes up too.

“What’s the matter?”

“…Did you just run a marathon?” Chloe asks. In the background, Daisy is giggling uncontrollably.

“What – Chloe, what’s going on?”

“Fred’s up. Says he won’t go back down until he speaks to you.”

“I told her not to ring you, Ellie!” Daisy calls out in the background. “I told her you’d be _busy_!”

“Put him on.”

“Oi, Daisy, quiet, you!” Alec chastises his daughter, leaning over Ellie’s shoulder.

“…Sorry, Dad.”

“Mumma?”

“Hi, my lovely.”

“Where are you?”

“Not far, love, just over at DI Hardy’s.”

“She’s with my dad, Freddie,” they hear Daisy pipe up.

“Are you coming home soon?”

Ellie and Alec look at each other. Both flushed and disheveled and very eager to get back to what they were doing. 

“In a while, love. The sooner you sleep the sooner you’ll wake up and see me,” she reminds him. As she has done many times in the past.

“Wanna see you nowwwww.”

The absolutely petrified look on Alec’s face is enough to supercede her mum genes and combat the power of her small child’s plaintive request.

“Not just yet, Freddie,” she says, and she can _feel _Alec’s sigh of relief. “You be a good boy for Chloe, and for Daisy apparently, and get on back to bed, all right? Tomorrow we’ll stop and get a 99 _before _dinner, eh?”

“Okay,” Fred says, glumly. Ellie knows he’s just trying to manipulate her. But fortunately she can only _hear_ his glumness and doesn’t have to see his pathetic little pouty face, so she’s safe.

“Good boy. I love you, my sweet.”

“Love you, Mumma.” 

They hear some shuffling, presumably Chloe taking Fred back upstairs, and Daisy seems to have grabbed the phone.

“You two better be up to no good,” she says. 

“_Goodbye, Daisy_,” Alec says firmly.

“Okay but – “

Alec hits the _end call _button on Ellie’s mobile, then takes it out of her hand and tosses it away somewhere. They look at each other, dying to resume their activities but also needing the release of laughter. They do something in between – grinning at each other and falling back into each other’s arms.

“Can you believe our bloody children are all _together r_ight now?” Ellie says, laughing against his shoulder.

“Wonder what that says about _us_,” Alec replies, slipping his arms around her, now laughing too.

Her arms circle his waist and his are around her shoulders. They laugh against each other for a moment, then just stay as they are, both of them surprisingly content just to be held.

“Mm,” she murmurs.

“Mm-hmm,” is his response.

They realize they might even be swaying just ever so slightly.

“This is nice,” she says softly into his chest.

“Very nice,” he agrees, burying his face between her neck and shoulder. 

This goes on for a spell. Soon he starts to rub her back, as if slowly trying to rouse them both from this beautifully comfortable moment of quiet back into where they had left off earlier. Fortunately she’s quite susceptible, starting to rub his back as well before slipping her hand down to grab his arse. God, she’s been wanting to do that for _ages_. It does not disappoint. She pulls back just enough to look up at him, and she’s grinning unabashedly, her face fully lit up. 

“Bit naughty,” he comments, leaning down to kiss her grin.

Her grin turns into a very pleased little smirk. “Was a bit naughty, wasn’t it.”

He kisses the smirk. “Might like to try it myself.” One hand slides down her back and grabs _her _arse.

“_Oh_,” she remarks coyly. “Yes, well done.”

He smiles, and probably blushes, suddenly remembering something. “The other day…d’you remember when you popped by the office on Saturday, wearing those…_jeans _of yours.”

She’s utterly delighted even though she as yet has no idea what he’s talking about. “What _jeans _of mine?”

“You know. The tight ones.”

“Oh, my tarty jeans, yes, go on.”

Both of his hands are cupping her arse now. “This was _all _I could think about…”

“What, doing this to me?”

“Mmhmm.”

“Oh how saucy of you.” She’s biting her lip.

He squeezes her arse with both hands. “How saucy of _you_, DS Miller.” 

A little jolt of electricity goes up and down her spine, hearing him call her that in this particular context, their bodies melded together and their hands grasping at each other’s naughty bits. 

A meaningful look passes between them.

“…Couch?” Alec suggests.

“_Oh _yes_._”

*


	7. Chapter 7

He’s desperate to get her to the couch. To a bed. To the floor. Anywhere so that he doesn’t have to expend any energy on being _upright_. He wants to focus every ounce of energy he has on _her_.

They collapse on the couch together in a heap and his lips find hers again immediately. His hands are on either side of her face, desperate to keep her close. 

He can hardly believe where they are now versus where they were yesterday. He’s wanted this for so long, wanted her for so long, it feels like a dream he’s woken up from too many times. Her hands are picking at the buttons of his dress shirt, and it’s amazing to him, the idea that she could want him just as badly as he wants her. She’s both willful and pliable in his arms as he pulls her against him, his hands firmly gripping her hips now.

“Ellie,” he breathes out, though his lips are smashed against hers. Her name is a release to him, he feels a little more weight lifted off him each time he whispers it.

She’s finally gotten all the buttons on his shirt undone, and she pushes it off of him to reveal his chest. She holds him at bay, and he can see she’s trying to get a good look at him. Her eyes fall to his pacemaker scar and in her eyes he _sees_ everything he _feels_. Her fingers travel lightly over the scar once, and then again a little more firmly, like she’s trying to commit the feel of it to memory. When her eyes meet his, there are tears in them, and he thinks he’s never been so moved by a person in his life. He’s so mad about her he feels like he could explode at any moment.

While he’s thinking about exploding, she becomes the aggressor suddenly. She pushes him against the back of the couch, then hikes up her skirt so she can straddle him.

“All right?” She asks, and he can’t believe she _has _to. Has he ever been more all right? 

He nods and her lips crash into his. The feel of her on his lap, the sight of her now exposed thighs on either side of him, and the smell of what he can only surmise is her shampoo, they overwhelm him, it’s an entirely _sensory _ experience. Her palm is resting flat against his scar, and he swears he can feel the wound healing at her touch, like her skin against his skin somehow _unlocks_ something that can transform even the most broken flesh. She removes her lips from his then, and they replace her hand on his scar, kissing the fibrous tissue, and he wonders if she believes it too. That she can heal him.

They’re all nonsense, his wild thoughts, jumbled together and forming one giant thought that scares him.

As she kisses his scar, his hands grip her thighs, squeezing her milky flesh, desperate to move higher. Then her lips are moving upward again, past his collarbone, to his jaw, and back to his lips. She’s smiling. And he remembers this is supposed to be _fun_. Not just overwhelming and powerful, but _fun_. He’s snogging Ellie Miller. Ellie Miller is on his lap, atop his very tight trousers. He grins back at her and lets one arm circle her waist while his free hand goes behind her head. He flips her over onto the couch and leans over her, enjoying the look of surprise in her eyes and the flush in her cheeks. Her chest rises and falls in rapid succession and her thighs are gripping his waist.

“All right?” _He _now asks, panting over her, holding himself up with a hand at either side of her head.

She nods enthusiastically and he lowers himself down slowly, their bodies flush, and nearly gasps at the feel of her breasts pressed against his chest as he gets back to kissing her, _hard_. Her legs are circling his waist, ankles locked together at the small of his back, and _oh god, _how is she this impossibly sexy.

He could kiss her for ages, her mouth is a mystery he desperately needs to solve, and _fuck_, he has maybe never felt so good in his life. Alive. She’s moaning ever so slightly into his mouth, and realizes his hips are rocking into her, his hardness rubbing against her between her legs – this dry humping is _not _the plan.

Not that there was a plan. Not really. He had not for one second believed when he invited her over for dinner that by 9:30pm she’d be moving underneath him this way and he’d be between her thighs, her skirt hiked all the way up to her waist. 

Suddenly he wonders if maybe he owes her an apology, if he’s moving too fast, if he hasn’t given her enough time to think about what _she _wants. If he’s being honest, he hadn’t imagined it would be _this _easy to get her here. Get her like _this_. She doesn’t seem to have any complaints or misgivings but he knows enough to know that it’s easy to get carried away, that sometimes your body moves faster than your mind, or even your heart, and it’s hard to stop it at a certain point. It’s his very worst nightmare that he will unintentionally take advantage of her and she’ll regret everything they’ve done, stunting the progress they’ve made thus far.

He props himself up again, hovering above her so he can look down at her.

“Is this…I mean.” His breathing is ragged and he struggles to string his words together. “This wasn’t what I…if this is too much…”

She doesn’t interrupt him, doesn’t try to stop him, her eyes are searching his and there’s nothing but pure honesty in the way she’s looking at him. She wants him to finish, he can see. Wants him to actually say what he’s trying to say. No more assumptions, no more misunderstandings. 

“Are you comfortable with this?” He asks. Once he’s found the _meaning _in his words, it’s much easier to put them together. “My plan was not to seduce you.”

She raises an eyebrow. God, she’s beautiful. 

“It wasn’t?”

He shakes his head, his hair falling over his eyes. “I didn’t know it would be like this.”

Her eyebrow remains raised pointedly. “Like what?”

“Like fire.” It’s amazing even to him that he managed to express that feeling so easily and succinctly.

A smile creeps over her lips. He’s pleased her.

“Like fire,” she repeats, and the words _sound _like fire coming out of her mouth. The things he wants to do to her…

He shakes the thoughts away and stays focused on her eyes, the expression on her face. “You’ll need to tell me if I’m going too far,” he says, deeply in earnest. “Think I’m a bit…carried away by you, so you’ll have to stop me if…” 

“Alec.” Her hand is on his cheek. Her other hand smoothes the hair out of his face as best it can. “It’s all right. I trust you with my body.”

The words freeze all other thoughts in his brain. It’s a strange thing to say, he thinks at first. Almost corny. But then he realizes how difficult a thing that actually is, how difficult it must be for her. For so long she was in love with a man she had trusted with every part of her, and he had betrayed each one. Her mind, her body, her heart. Alec knows that she trusts him with her life. They could not do what they do together each day if she didn’t. He also knows that to trust someone with your life is no small thing. And to trust someone with your body, after your body has been through what hers has been through, is in fact monumental.

“You do,” he says, needing to confirm.

She nods slowly. “I do,” she says, so softly he barely hears it. “I know you’ll stop if I want you to stop. And I promise I’ll tell you if I do.”

“All right,” he replies, and he fears his face betrays how moved he is by her. “And right now you’re…”

“Good.” She’s nearly grinning now. “I’m so good.” 

“It’s not too fast?” He’s just so terrified of ruining everything with his own eagerness to experience every part of her, physical and otherwise.

“Alec, I mean it.” She reaches for him, and pulls him down again, all of his weight on top of her. “I trust you with my body. You don’t have to worry. Because I won’t.”

He kisses her then, it’s deep and intense and his lips are clinging to hers. She’s got her hands in his hair again as if, despite the fact that this is the first time they’ve come together this way, she _knows _how crazy it’s making him. He drives a hand up from her waist to the side of her breast, and even just feeling _that _much elicits a low growl from the back of his throat. He shifts to the side a bit, wedging himself between her body and the couch so that he can touch her. His hand strokes her breast through the silk fabric of her blouse, then cups it from underneath before giving it a light squeeze.

This he literally _has _dreamed about it. From this he has woken up in a cold sweat, has woken up hard as a rock and panting. For awhile now he’s been actively self-conscious of how often his eyes are drawn to her breasts when she’s around him, how often he’s imagined what kind of bra she might be wearing underneath her buttoned up blouses at work, how badly he wants to take them in his mouth and... 

“_Ohhh_…”

It’s somewhere between a moan and a whimper, what comes out of her, and she’s arching up into his touch, eyes closed. He almost comes with his trousers on right then. _God_, what a _sound_. He could devote the rest of his life to making her moan like that and be a contented man.

He understands then that she’s feeling exactly the way he’s feeling.

She is just as much on fire as he is.

*


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember when I thought this would be two chapters???? 
> 
> Thank you all so much for going on this journey with me! I have no idea where it ends so you're in questionable hands!  
:-D

This should be weirder.

She _knows _this should be weirder.

A week ago, they were just partners. Close colleagues. A boss and his subordinate, albeit a stubborn one. They were friends. The kind of friends who knew too much about each other but didn’t want to admit it. Who were a bit closer than they ought to be, due to circumstances entirely outside their control. Who had an intimacy to their work relationship that didn’t quite go with the territory. They annoyed the ever-loving shite out of each other and still kept coming back. 

All those things, just a week ago, and now this. Now him, with his mussed up hair (her fault), his open dress shirt revealing his pacemaker scar (reminding her of a time when she could not have been more infuriated by him, or more terrified), and the hard length of him pressing against her as he fondles her breasts, grasping at them like they’re his key to survival.

Her lips must be turning purple now for as hard and long as he’s been kissing her. As she’s been kissing him back.

Whatever’s happening between them right now seems to ebb and flow. One minute, a frenzy during which she cannot even think straight, the next…slow and emotional and oddly amazing. And neither one of them has even fully taken off a single item of clothing yet. She thanks whatever gods are on her side that she did _not_ sleep with Leo last night. There is no way she could be doing what she’s doing with Alec if…if she had just…

Nevermind.

Right now she’s just lying on his couch with him wedged between her body and the back of it. She’s just _watching _him now, truly just watching as he touches her. Watching his movements and watching his _face_, his beautiful face, damn him. She has proof of how aroused he is by her, it’s pressed up against her right this minute and it’s driving her a bit mad. Though he may not have access to the same evidence on her end, she licks her lips and thinks that the next time he opens his mouth, the next time she hears that Scottish brogue, she’s going to pass out from desire. How on earth did they get here?

No, she knows. She knows exactly how they got here. Years of pent up tension and unacknowledged intimacy is how they got here. He’s been her best friends for years, the one person who has seen her in her absolute worst moments, the most harrowing points of her life, and still he keeps coming back to her. She can’t understand why, but he does, and here he is, staring at her body with such ardent _need_, such practiced concentration, that she _knows _he’s played out this exact moment in his head several times before. He’s too good at this to have been taken by surprise by the whole thing. She looks at his face and she knows he’s always known they’d be here. She hasn’t.

That said, she wonders how long he’s going to wait before just asking her to take her bloody top off already. How is he content to just be staring and grasping at her breasts through the barrier of this bothersome silk shirt? He’s taking his time with her, and at first she wonders if it’s because he’s afraid, because he hasn’t been properly reassured by her. She thought she’d been clear – he can do whatever he likes with her body. She trusts him. _But _– she thinks now that this isn’t the case, that he’s in fact taking his time with her because he wants to take his time with her. 

It’s a strange thing, after years of desperately needing to touch each other but refusing to acknowledge it, to not quite know whether they’d prefer to devour each other in a wild fever of desperation, or to draw it out…make it last as long as possible…live in it for as long as they can…

She’d thought, given their kiss before dinner, that it would be the former. That afterwards they might attack each other and end up fucking against the wall, unable to help themselves. But that’s not what’s happening now.

Anyway, it’s clear Lucy’s silk top has been a _hit _and she’s never giving it back.

“Hey,” she whispers, reaching up to touch his cheek, turning his head so that he’s looking at her face after…she has no idea how long of staring at her breasts.

“Hey.” He smiles and his face is lit up by it. He looks like a roguish child who has just discovered a game-changing new toy that could amuse him for hours on end.

“If I’d known I could use these to drive you to such prolonged distraction, I’d have done it much earlier,” she says with a little leer. “Get things done _my _way at work for a change. 

He snorts and it makes her grin. “Kiss me,” she says, realizing she misses his lips on her though it’s only been a few minutes.

“With pleasure.”

He leans his head down and captures her lips with his before parting them slowly with his tongue. She reaches for his hand and moves it underneath her top, and immediately relishes the warmth of his rough palm on the smooth skin of her stomach. Her top is too tight for him to get at her breasts this way, she realizes, and she’ll just have to take it off. She starts to sit up, lips still attached to his, pushing him backwards off her. Once she has enough equilibrium, she grabs the hem of her top and pulls it over her head, breaking contact with his lips only enough to get it off her and toss it away. Then she lies back down again. He doesn’t follow her, instead staying back where he is to get a good look at her. She feels a bit exposed just lying there, but not uncomfortable, though she knows she must have a full-body blush.

Finally he groans, and judging by the look on his face it was entirely involuntary. His hand is back on her bare stomach, fingers traveling aimlessly, the tips of his fingers on fire.

“Ellie, um.” He clears his throat, voice low and groggy. He’s staring at her breasts and not at her face and she doesn’t mind. It feels unbelievably good to be appreciated this way. To know that after two children, her best physical feature(s) remain intact, as powerful as they were went she was twenty, perhaps even moreso _because _of the two children. 

“I…” He stammers. She reaches up for him again, and it seems she’s unable to keep her fingers out of his hair. She just keeps pushing it back so she can see his eyes, even if they’re not directly meeting hers. “It’s all right,” she whispers.

She knows he’s struggling for words. That he feels like he _has _to struggle for words, to find the right ones, to impress her. She didn’t want to make this into a game, but that’s exactly what she did. Unintentionally. 

“It’s all right,” she says again, palm to his cheek. “You don’t have to – “

Suddenly his eyes meet hers and there’s a wild _certainty _there. “You are so fucking beautiful.”

“…_Oh_,” it comes out like an exhale. 

“I need for there to be absolutely _no question _of that,” he says, voice gaining confidence. “I’ll tell you as often as you want, I’ll tell you every minute because it’s _true _every minute, but I just want to be clear. You. Are so. _Fucking_. Beautiful.”

The look on her face must be _horrid_, she thinks, must be a _mess_. But his expression hasn’t changed. All she does is nod, all she can do is accept his words and let them live inside her alongside her gratitude for as long as possible.

She reaches for him with both hands, palms to his cheeks, heat radiating from both of them. “I want you.” It comes out in a whisper though she meant for it to be stronger, more definitive. She’s never said those words out loud in that order before. Never been so definitive in her life, never felt the need to _say _it. But just as he is desperate for her to _know _how beautiful she is, she’s desperate for _him _to know exactly what she wants, in no uncertain terms. All of him.

He grins and it only confirms how badly she wants him. “All in good time, lass,” he says, accent thick, before dipping his head and bringing his mouth to one of her breasts. His hand goes for the other one, and for a moment it’s just that, just a palm resting on the top of her breast as his tongue licks her other nipple through the taut fabric of her bra. She arches her back, closing her eyes and tipping her head back. At the same time, her foot nudges his leg until he slips it in between hers. She pushes his shirt off his arms and he shrugs it off, immediately returning to his ministrations. His hand is kneading at her breast now, his tongue languidly slipping under the lace that’s covering her nipple. Because he’s got one hand on her breast and the other trapped underneath him due to his position, she reaches up on her own to nudge her bra straps off her shoulder and pushes the lace cup away so he can take her flesh into his mouth.

“_Fuck_,” she groans, and she can feel him get harder, especially now that he’s got a leg between hers. He bends his knee, bringing it up between her thighs, which she begins to part further as it rubs it against her. “_Ah_.”

He’s sucking on her nipple, groaning, and she’s startling to feel like if he moves his knee to just the right spot she might actually just come right then and there.

Which is the exact thought that encourages her to stop them. She raises her head up. “Alec.”

He grunts into her flesh, biting one nipple and pinching the other until she’s whimpering.

“_Alec_.”

Against his will, he stops, just to make sure she’s okay. She’s said _I want you_, but she’s allowed to change her mind, he knows.

“You should text Daisy.”

He looks up at her and frowns. “Wha?”

“Tell her not to come home.”

He raises both eyebrows in response.

“I’ll text Chloe,” she says. “They can just have a sleepover at mine.”

She can see Dad Hardy fight for space on his face. “They’ll know,” he tells her. “They’ll know _exactly_…”

“Do we _care_?” She questions pointedly.

“…No, s’pose not.”

The hardest thing to accept is that they’ll need to extricate themselves from each other in order to find their phones. Alec very reluctantly peels himself off of her, rising to sit back on the couch, then standing. He looks down at her, lying with her skirt hiked all the way up, her bra only halfway on. She looks like she’s been ravaged by a wild animal.

And, maybe, she _has_.

He sighs and holds a hand out to her, pulling her up off the couch. “It’s for the greater good,” she assures him. “We stop so that we may continue.” She winks at him.

“…Thanks, Confucius.”

Then they both part ways, searching for their respective mobiles. Once found, they sit back down on the couch side by side, and begin typing away.

He glances over at her. “What’re _you _sayin'?”

Ellie reads it back. “ ‘Care to stay the night? Daisy welcome to join you. Sweets in the cupboard, feel free to order a movie.’ That’s nice, right?”

He shrugs. Why not. “ I’ll say… ‘What about a sleepover with Chloe at Ellie’s tonight?’ “

Ellie looks at him and frowns. He grimaces back. “Oh, _what_.”

“Give it to me.” She takes his phone out of his hand and begins typing. “ ‘For your own good you stay at mine tonight. You can thank me later. – Ellie.’ “

Alec’s face scrunches up in irritation. “Don’t tell her _that_!”

“Trust me.” She hits send, then hands his phone back to him.

Both phones buzz at the same time. Ellie reads Chloe’s response first. “ ‘Mum said this would happen. See you in the morning.’ Oi, _Beth_, that cheeky cow!” 

Alec squints his eyes to read Daisy’s response. “ ‘YES!!!!!!’ “

Ellie raises an eyebrow at him. “How many exclamation points does that amount to?”

“Um.” He squints again. “Six.”

His mobile buzzes again. “ ‘Dad – don’t bollocks this one up.’ “ His face scrunch returns as he reacts to Ellie. “Bit rude.” It buzzes again. “’Ellie – he makes a mean omelette.’” Face scrunch again. “Dunno where she gets this from, I swear.”

Ellie is grinning. She tosses her phone away, then grabs his and tosses it as well. “Seems we’re in the clear.” 

A smile is slowly replacing the scrunchiness on his face. “Seems we are.”

“So.” She flutters her eyelashes at him, demurely.

His hand creeps over to hers. “So." 

Her eyes light up and she flashes him a coy half-smile. “Dessert?”

***


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Busy day, so just a quick chapter to (hopefully) tide you over a bit. Also feeling rather invested in my other Alec/Ellie fic so may be in that for a bit.

She hadn’t meant it literally, but suddenly there’s dessert before her. A chocolate ganache torte, to be exact.

She is sitting on the couch, staring at the plate on the coffee table until he sits beside her.

“I didn’t mean…” She looks at the torte. “I just meant more like…” She gestures vaguely toward upstairs.

“Oh.” Alec looks at the torte a little embarrassed. “But you like dessert.”

She smiles. “I do like dessert. You didn’t…make this -- ?”

“Ach, no, popped by the bake shop after work,” he replies. “Cookin' is one thing, bakin' is another.”

He watches her stare at the torte, interested but hesitant.

“…So you don’t want it.”

“No, I do, it’s just – “ She crosses one leg over the other. “I’ll taste like chocolate all night. That ganache really stays with you, you know.” He’s waiting for more. “You don’t like sweets.” 

“I like it just fine if I taste it on _you_.”

“Well then.” She picks up the plate and the fork, and brings a bite to her mouth. “Ohgodthat’sgood.”

He chuckles, inching closer to her. He places a hand at her knee, then starts caressing her thigh. She takes another bite. She’s just sitting there in her lacy black bra eating cake. Although, to be fair, not for the first time.

“Mm.” Ellie brings another bite to her lips. “Between your hands and this cake I reckon I’ve never been more turned on in my life.”

His hands slip higher up her thigh, traveling underneath her skirt, and he’s watching her face carefully all the while for signs of distress. There are none. Quite the opposite in fact.

She takes another bite, eyes trained on what’s he’s doing, where his hand is going, where she wants it to go.

She smiles at him coyly, certain she has chocolate on her lips. “Sure you don’t want some?”

He tries to play it cool though he’s all but salivating watching her. “Maybe a bite.”

She prepares a forkful and holds it out to him, expecting him to take it himself. But he doesn’t. She raises an eyebrow, then brings the fork to his lips. He takes the bite. She is _very_ surprised by how sexy she finds that. She does not normally in any way equate food with sex. She loves them both in equal measure but has never felt any need to combine them. But the fact that he’s eaten _chocolate, _off her _fork_, with his hand up her skirt…of course it makes her tremble.

“Not so bad, eh?” She says, replacing the fork and plate back down on the coffee table.

He purses his lips, licking chocolate off his teeth, and she can’t help giggling.

“Kiss me,” she demands. “I can help with that.”

He doesn’t hesitate. He leans in and kisses her, lets her do whatever she wants with his mouth. His hand slides farther up her skirt, moving to her inner thigh and she gasps a little into his mouth. He pulls his lips away just slightly and smiles. “Enjoying our date so far?”

She takes his other hand and places it on top of her breast. “Think we’d better go on upstairs,” she says in a low voice, reaching down to stroke him through his trousers.

He clears his throat. “Right. Yes. Upstairs then.” 

He grabs her hand and pulls her off the couch, dragging her up the stairs with great urgency. She’s laughing so hard by the time they reach his bedroom that her cheeks are red and she has to cover her face with her hands. Oh, but such lovely hands. He stands before her and gently pulls them away from her face, a bit bowled over by the wild beauty of her smiling eyes and flushed cheeks, the way her laughter seems to light up her entire face effortlessly. It also makes her blush all the way down to her collarbone. It’s like she’s entirely rose-tinted.

He steps as close to her as he can, leaning forward to kiss her cheek. He holds the other side of her face in his hand, and moves his lips up to her temple, then to her hairline, down to her ear, until he’s sucking on the skin just behind her earlobe. His other hand goes around her waist, pulling him against him gently.

She lets out a very contented sigh, tilting her head to give him better access.

“Could do this to you for hours,” he murmurs against her. And given what she’s seen him from tonight, she believes he actually _could_. Alec Hardy is a man who enjoys foreplay and there’s absolutely no question about it.

Evidently it will be up to her to move things along. Nice as this is. 

She reaches for his belt buckle and begins to unfasten it until she can swiftly whip it right off him. He lifts his head up at that, and she can see she’s gotten his attention.

She grins. “So you going to fuck me or what?”

His eyes widen, but then he leans forward until his lips are against her ear. “Tell me what you want, Ellie.”

“How ‘bout I show you,” she replies, unzipping his fly and slipping her hand into his trousers. He groans. She strokes him through his briefs, feeling out the size of him with delight. “_Oh_.”

“Wha,” he mumbles into her neck, reaching to squeeze her arse.

“I’d wondered,” she admits, stroking him up and down.

“Nnnggg, wondered what.” He sticks his tongue in her ear.

“Had a feeling you’d be quite…” Her hand slips into his briefs now. “_Satisfying_.”

He growls at her the way only a Scotsman can. “Just you _wait_, lass.”

She feels every particle of her skin give off a spark. “Rather not.”

He turns her around and starts pushing her back to the bed, her hand never leaving his briefs.When her legs hit the bed, she reaches back to unzip her skirt, and his mouth is slightly open as it falls to the floor revealing her black knickers.

“_Fuuuuck_, Ellie.”

She grins widely and crawls backward onto the bed, slowly moving up to the pillows, knowing his eyes are burning into her. She could not have given him a better angle to look at her if she tried. 

It’s a nice bed, if small. A full-size has been more than enough for just him. He keeps two pillows, and even that seems excessive, but now he’s grateful for it. She lies his head atop one of the pillows and waits for him to join her. He gives himself a moment to enjoy the view, then lets her trousers fall to the floor before stepping out of them and crawling onto the mattresss. He moves over her, eyes drinking her in as he does, then lowers himself on top of her. He rubs his thumb across her cheek and searches her eyes for a moment before bringing his lips _almost _to hers, then stopping, leaving them just the barest whisper apart.

“Ellie,” he breathes, licking his own lips, teasing her.

Her lips curl into a smile. “You like it now, don’t you,” she says a bit demurely. “My name.”

He shifts a bit so that he’s resting between her legs and rubs his hardness against her ever so slightly, teasing her there too. Her breath catches in her throat. 

“Always liked it,” he admits, then darts a tongue out to lick _her _lips. “Easier not to say it, though, when I couldn’t have you.” 

This little piece of illumination he’s offered her is monumental and leaves her feeling a wave of emotions – heartbroken, aroused, enamored, staggered.

She runs the tips of her fingers up and down his bare back, dancing along his spine. “And are you going to now?” She asks, panting a bit. “_Have_ me?” 

His hips thrust into hers and she’s furious at the fabric of their respective underwear that serves as a barrier. He nips at her lower lip and she’s breathing so unevenly he can barely think straight with her breasts heaving into his chest. “Ellie Miller, I’m going to _have you _until you scream so loud you lose your _voice_,” he promises her, rubbing his cock against her insistently. “We’ll not sleep tonight, lass.”

“Oh _god_,” she exclaims, feeling like she’s going to absolutely _explode_, and she pulls his face down so that his lips can’t tease her any longer. She parts his lips with her tongue and snogs him senseless. 

“Gonna make you come until you see stars,” he growls into her mouth, slipping his warm hand into her bra cup and grasping her breast. “And then make you come _again_.”

“_Christ_.” She can barely get the word out, she just expels it violently as she struggles to get enough air. 

His tongue finds hers again and they’re both moaning in a way that’s totally primal. He moves his hand down from her breast down her body until he reaches the waistband of her knickers. He pulls his head back, gasps for air, then slides his hand down underneath the lacey fabric. 

“You’re all _mine _tonight.”

**


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't forget!

Ellie has the most peculiar urge to _laugh_.

She feels utterly euphoric. Relieved, thrilled, overwhelmed. And it’s all bubbling to the surface.

He’s got his hand in her knickers, fingers exploring her gently, and the last straw for her is the look of pure concentration on his face. She bursts out laughing.

He looks at her, startled. His fingers stop moving which immediately causes her to stop laughing.

“So sorry,” she says, still smiling.

“Something funny?” He has the look of a very puzzled and put out child. 

“No, you’re brilliant, it’s…no.” She kisses him. “Keep doing what you’re doing.”

He sits up, back on his knees, and pulls his hand out of her knickers. She worries she’s done something to make him stop, but instead he begins peeling them off her. Then he slides his body over her again and returns his hand between them. She grabs the nape of his neck and attacks his mouth with hers as he slips a finger inside her. She sighs into his mouth with pleasure and spreads her legs further for him.

“All right?” He asks against her lips.

She nods enthusiastically, then sucks his bottom lip. At her encouragement, he adds another finger. Her moan is positively _sinful_. His impossibly hard cock is rubbing up against her through the fabric of his briefs.

“Ellie…” He whispers, and begins thumbing her clit.

“Oh _god_.” She grabs onto his shoulder and her nails dig into his skin. “Fuck.”

He finds a rhythm, fucking her with his fingers, and pulls his lips away from hers so he can watch her face. “You’re bloody gorgeous,” he tells her, bringing his other hand to her breast. 

She’s arching into him, eyes closed, body writhing wildly beneath him. He can feel her getting close. He slips another experimental third finger inside her and she gasps. He is very pleased to learn just how _vocal _she is. Though truth be told he should not be surprised.

“_Yes_,” is all she can say now, and he takes it to heart, sitting back to get a deeper angle, and a faster rhythm. “_Yes._”

He feels an immense pride knowing he’s about to get Ellie Miller off. He watches her body writhe, and places his other hand on her stomach to keep her steady. “Jesus, Ellie,” he says, his cock throbbing, he’s so desperate for her.

“_Yes_,” is all she says back.

He focuses his ministrations on her clit until she’s panting, reaching to pull her own hair, and with the other hand grabbing at the sheets. She cries out arching her back as far as it will go and he tugs at himself through his briefs as he fucks her through her orgasm, unbelievably aroused by the sight of her. When he’s sure she’s finished, he removes his hand and wipes it against the sheets, crawling back over her. With a hand on either side of her head, he holds himself up over her. She’s still catching her breath, he can’t very well crush her now.

Her chest rises and falls rapidly, she looks at him with flushed cheeks and flushed everything really. “Why, Alec Hardy, you are an _artist_.”

He chuckles, very much enjoying watching her collect herself.

“I’d never have known,” she says.

He lowers himself on top of her now that she’s breathing regularly enough to speak in full sentences, and kisses her chest, her collarbone, her neck, eventually staying there.

“Known what,” he murmurs against her skin.

“That you’d be so bloody good at this.” She runs her fingers through his hair.

He sucks at her neck and unconsciously begins rocking back and forth against her, his cock taking over control of his mind. She reaches for his arse and slides her hand underneath his briefs to squeeze it. He groans into her skin. She starts to push down the waistband of the briefs, but can only go so far without his help.

He lifts his head to look at her, admiring the glow about her, the sparkle in her eyes.

“Well,” she says, kissing him. “You going to fuck me properly now?”

“You want me to?” He nips at her bottom lip.

“I want you inside me,” she whispers, moving to kiss his jawline, then pulling his head down further so she can bite his earlobe.

That’s all she has to say. He sits up and pulls off his briefs, but before he can positions himself between her legs, she sits up and pushes him back onto the bed. He does not hesitate to let her. She crawls over him, straddling him, sitting back just enough to admire the throbbing hard length of him with a wicked smile.

“Oh, I’m so pleased,” she says with delight. She should play it cool and sexy, she knows, but she can’t hide her glee. It’s pure _luck _and luck alone to fall for someone and have them be….so endowed as to satisfy at a level such as this. Is how she puts it to herself.

He can’t help but smile up at her, at her entirely genuine admission of pleasure. How she manages to be wildly sexy and fully adorable at the exact same time is very much beyond him.

She curls her fingers around him and slides her hand up and down, happily getting a feel for him. He’s too hard and too desperate for this to go on much longer. “_Please_, Ellie,” he begs her.

Those words delight her almost as much as the size of him. She moves over him, and makes sure to unwaveringly meet his gaze as she guides him inside of her. They both moan so loudly at the same time that it makes them grin at each other. It takes two tries before he’s all the way in. He grasps onto her hips and moves her back and forth a few times before deciding to let her take charge. He moves his hands to her breasts, still annoying pent up by her bra. She reaches back to unhook the clasp, and lets the bra fall of her body. His hips buck up into her at that.

“Christ.” He feels like he could just stare at her for hours, but his cock has other plans for them. 

She leans forward over him, hands on either side of his head, and he grasps both breasts simultaneously, squeezing and kneading them as she begins to move on top of him. Slowly at first, still getting used to the feel of him, and because his hands at her breasts are driving her a bit wild. He pinches a nipple and she starts to move faster. He groans with immense pleasure. He moves his hands to her back and guide her down to him so he can take a nipple into his mouth as she rides him. Ellie moans at that now, and at the deeper angle. She starts to move quickly now, gaining in speed and in desperation. After a few moments, he grasps onto her hips tightly, then flips them over. He thrusts into her rapidly, gripping her thighs, watching every twist and arch of her body with rapt attention now.

He’s unbearably close now, frankly has been for some time, and to get her there with him he reaches down to find her clit. “Jesus _fuck_,” she cries, and he feels confident he can get her there in time for him. 

He’s looking down between them so she reaches out and touches his face, guiding his eyes to hers.

“Look at me, Alec,” she says. 

The unadulterated desire and _love _in her eyes sets him over the edge and he’s crying out her name, gaze locked with hers as much as possible. He keeps thrusting inside her, but focuses on rubbing her clit until she joins him, with a scream that would make him come again if that were possible. They ride out the aftershocks still joined together, then he collapses on top of her, their sweat mingling together, before he pulls out, rolling to her side.

“Jesus _fucking _christ, Ellie.” He kisses her shoulder and lazily drapes his arm over her middle.

“I…_yeah_. Right. Wow.” She stares at the ceiling as if she can’t believe what’s just transpired between them.

They lie catching their breath for a few moments, then she turns onto her side to face him. He touches his forehead to hers.

“You’re beautiful,” she says to him.

He says nothing, for all he’s thinking is no one has ever said that to him before. 

“You are a beautiful, beautiful man,” she reiterates, pressing her lips to his.

He pushes her hair back out of her face and smiles. “You’re extraordinary.”

She grins. “Could just compliment each other all night.” She plants a kiss on his nose. “Or we could get some more of that chocolate cake, I’m bloody _starved_.”

**


	11. Chapter 11

Ellie sits up against the headboard eating what’s left of the chocolate ganache torte. Yes, she is lying completely naked in Alec Hardy’s bed eating chocolate cake. As wild as it is, it is also somehow the only thing that makes sense. Eating chocolate in the afterglow of two orgasms is all Ellie could ask for in her life, really, and it’s possible she’s never been more content. 

After having gone to _get _her the cake – traveling stark naked into the kitchen and back, and thanking god they’d put off Daisy from coming home – Alec brings it to her then crawls back into bed beside her under the covers. His lips are immediately on her again, her arm, her shoulder, her neck. As she pops forkfuls of cake into her mouth, she occasionally finds herself giggling from the way his beard tickles her. Nobody is perfect, but Alec thinks if anyone might come close, it’s Ellie Miller.

She gets down to the last bite and, in the ultimate act of selflessness, offers it to him. He’s unwilling to remove his lips from her skin for even a second, so he murmurs something like a no thank you and she finishes it off herself. Without taking his lips off her, he takes the plate and the fork out of her hands and tosses them over to the nightstand. She slides down the headboard to be level with him and he kisses her literally very sweet lips.

“Finally,” he says before kissing her again.

“You know how I get when I’m hangry,” she replies, giggling through the kiss.

He pulls her close to him, kissing her like he’s starving too. “Didn’t think it was possible for you to taste any better than you did already.”

“I’m no match for chocolate.”

“Oh yes you are,” he growls, hooking a leg over her hip and sticking his tongue in her mouth.

She wraps her arms around him, moaning as his tongue explores her mouth, then reaches down to grab of fistful of his arse. He groans, bucking his hips into hers. He moves his lips reluctantly away from hers – he’s a bit overstimulated at the moment, desperately wishing he could kiss every part of her at once and not have to choose – and down to her chest. He lands just underneath her collarbone, finds some delectable skin he likes there, and begins sucking at it. Her fingers knead into his back, hard, as if she’s trying to pull him inside her body.

“Alec,” she says, probably for no reason at all, and he smiles into her skin. He’s very much beginning to like the sound of his name.

“Mm.” His lips move down to the top of her breast and he focuses his attention on leaving a mark there. Where no one will know but him.

She gasps a little, then tries to reach a hand between them.

“Not yet,” he murmurs. “Need a bit more time there.” Though he’s perfectly content devouring every inch of her skin, he loves that she’s already needy for him. “Not as young as I used to be.”

He’s older than she is, only by a few years. She’s not _wanted _to shag someone more than once in a night for a long time, so she’d forgotten the change in recovery time. By the end of her marriage to Joe, he was still quite, well, energetic. Though she perishes that thought now. 

“Take your time,” she says, and though she _is _already quite needy for him, she also has absolutely no complaints whatsoever about what they’re doing now.

He takes her nipple into his mouth and sucks lightly on her breast, then brings his own hand between them. Just the feel of his hand on her is enough to make her whimper a little. He palms her gently as he sucks on her breast.

“Not…” She gasps. “Tired of me yet, eh?”

He lifts his head to look at her. “I told you, lass. You’ll not sleep on my watch.”

She grins and drops her head back on the bed. The happiness she is experiencing right now seems impossible. And yet here she is.

He kisses his way down her body, as slowly as he can manage, stopping every so often to commit a piece of her to memory. He sucks on her hip for a while, having found something particularly pleasing about the flesh there, then moves down to her leg, and the inside of her thigh. He bites her and then soothes the bite with his tongue and she whimpers desperately.

“So bloody sexy,” he whispers inaudibly into her thigh.

She doesn’t hear him, her thoughts and capacity for coherence are already starting to fade. He finds himself buried in the crease of her upper thigh for longer than he planned, until she can’t stand it anymore and uses her hands to guide his head over by an inch or two.

“Patience, lass,” he mumbles. “I’ll take good care of you.”

Ellie is already gripping the sheets by the fistful by the time his tongue is inside her. She writhes as he laps at her, almost embarrassed by how quickly she’s losing control. He begins to suck on her clit and she starts wildly grabbing for things to hold onto. She pulls a pillow over her face and starts biting it until she feels like she can’t breathe and tosses it away. His tongue is _masterful _in its work and though he’s clearly still feeling out her specific wants and needs, what drives her crazy, he’s remarkably skilled in his _efficiency_. It used to take her husband ages to get her off this way, and granted the ages were largely enjoyable, but it rarely made her want to pull her own hair out by the root and scream. …In a good way.

She’s having trouble keeping still he’s driving her so wild, so he grips onto one thigh, holding her down, which also allows his tongue to delve deeper. 

“Oh _fuck_,” she exclaims. He trusts she is fine with this.

He alternates between flicking and sucking and he can feel how shallow her breathing is, how close must be. With one hand gripping her thigh, he reaches his other hand up, searching for hers. When he finds it, he locks their fingers together, giving her something steadfast to hold on to. 

Not only is this incredibly useful, but the pure affection of the gesture is what sends her over the edge. She squeezes his hand like a stress ball as she comes, raising her hips and crying out. He doesn’t let up just yet, licking her through her spasms until she finally begins to come down. He pushes back and sits up on her knees to look at her, still holding onto her hand as she works to regulate her breathing again.

“_Oh_,” she exhales, covering her face with her free hand. “Oh, wow.”

He gently pulls his hand away from her, then lifts her leg and begins kissing his way from her foot all the way up to her hip bone, dragging his tongue along her milky flesh when the mood strikes him. Then he moves to lie beside her again and pulls her hand away from her face. She immediately smiles in response to his smile. 

“Beautiful,” he says, running the back of his hand up and down her jawline.

She moves to lie with her head on his chest, listening for his heartbeat instinctively and tracing his pacemaker scar with her hand. His fingers run lightly up and down her arm.

After a few moments of calm and quiet, he smiles to himself and says, “Miller.”

“…_Hardy_.”

“…Bit weird?”

She chuckles and plants a kiss on his chest. “Bit weird, yeah.”

“D’you feel…good?”

She grins, knowing he can’t see it. “Very good.”

He trails his other hand up and down her side, fingers brushing her ribcage. She couldn’t possibly feel _better_. 

“D’you think you might…you know, that we might, um.” He sighs.

She raises her head to look at him, then props herself up a bit on her elbow. “Don’t need to talk about this now, do we? Like to just…enjoy it a bit, yeah?”

“Yeah.” His face contorts a bit and she can see he’s in mild distress. “But if we could…”

“Alec. You’ve just given me three orgasms in the rough span of an hour. You can’t expect me to be in any way reasonable at the moment.”

That brings a hint of a smile to his face. “Right, sorry. Yes.” He sighs, and she nearly laughs. “But – " 

“All right, what then?” She asks, not nearly as annoyed as she wants to be. His _face _just does her right in.

He cringes. “….Leo.”

She blinks at him. “_Oh_.”

“Please tell me that the look on your face right now means you’ve forgotten his existence entirely,” he pleads.

She kisses his cheek, then places a hand on it. “I had done. ‘Til now.”

“Ellie, I don’t want to persuade you to do anything you don’t – “ 

“Shut up please.” She brings her index finger to his lips. “You need not worry about Leo. And nor shall I. Imagine I’ll be quite busy for the next little while.” 

He frowns. “What do – “

“With _you_, you knob.”

“Oh.” She feels him exhale with relief. “Right, okay.”

She runs her index finger over his lips, just slightly intoxicated by him. “You’re rather cute, you know.” He scrunches up his nose in displeasure. “Only proving my case with that.”

He kisses her finger, then looks at her seriously. “This might work out fine, yeah?”

She scratches at his beard then pushes the rogue hair out of his face. “Might, yeah.” She leans down and kisses him.

His hand moves from her ribcage to the side of her breast, caressing it with feather-like fingers. She looks a bit surprised. “You tryin’ to turn me on again?”

He smirks. “Is it workin’?”

“Ugh, maybe.” She kisses him more deeply now, and he begins to knead her breast. “All right, yes.”

“I warned you I’d not let you sleep tonight, didn’t I?”

She has to give him that. “You did...” She slides her hand between them and curls her fingers around his cock. “How’s it going down here then? Ready yet?”

The answer makes itself plain when she feels him getting hard in her hand. “Uh.” Granted, it’s been a good while since he’s had sex, but this feels like a quick turnaround for him. “You must be some kind of sorceress.”

She starts kissing his neck. “You’ve no idea.”

He sighs as her hand moves up and down the length of him. “Please god let me find out.” She keeps touching him with nimble fingers until he’s fully hard, sucking at his collarbone simultaneously. “Oh, ‘s my turn now, isn’t it.”

She lifts her head and looks at him mischievously. “Uh huh.”

She sits up and crawls backwards until she’s hovering between his legs, eyes locked with his all the while. “I warn you, I am very, very good at this.” 

He _swiftly _pushes an image of Joe out of his mind and focuses on how close her mouth is to his cock now.

“Ellie.”

She licks the tip of him in response and he breathes in sharply.

“Ellie,” he says again.

“_Yes_.”

He props himself up a bit to look at her. “We’re going to try this. You and me. Right?” 

She’s surprised to hear him ask the question _now _of all moments, but she manages to take him seriously. 

“Yeah. We’re going to try this.”

He grins and drops his head back onto the pillow. “Right, then, sorceress, put your money where your mouth is.”

Her jaw drops a bit in delight at his absolutely _incredible _play on words. “Oh now you’ve _definitely _won me over, Alec Hardy.”

***

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And this concludes our fic! 
> 
> Thanks so much to everyone who went on this ride with me! It was so nice to write for such vocal readers, and I appreciate every one of you! Hope you enjoyed.


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